The International Olympic Committee (IOC) could back-track on banning protests during national anthems at next year's Tokyo Games.
Earlier this year, IOC boss Thomas Bach warned athletes against protestations in any form at the Tokyo Olympics, insisting it "must never be a platform to advance political or any other potentially divisive ends".
The IOC's Rule 50 states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas" and competitors who demonstrate at the Games had been threatened with disciplinary action.
But circumstances have drastically changed in the past few weeks, after African-American George Floyd was killed by white police officer Derek Chauvin last month.
The death has sparked protests around the world, with athletes vowing to take a stace when their sports return.
President Bach says the athlete committee would explore different ways that opinions could be expressed during the Games, while still respecting the Olympic spirit.
"We have fully supported the initiative of the Olympic Athletes' Commission to have dialogue with their counterparts - athletes from around the world - to explore different ways on how Olympic athletes can express their support for the principles enshrined in the Olympic charter in a dignified way," Bach says.
"We also agree, at the same time, with the Athletes' Commission that we must always respect the Olympic spirit, and this means we must make a difference between such support for the principles enshrined in the Olympic charter and potentially divisive demonstrations."
Organisations, including the National Football League (NFL), have moved to allow protests after widespread condemnation of Floyd's death.
The NFL banned knelling during the US anthem, after former quarterback Colin Kaepernick began using pre-game ceremonies to protest police brutality against blacks and other minorities in 2016.
NFL teams ostracised Kaepernick over his kneeling protest and he hasn't played since.
The most famous Olympic protest came at Mexico City 1968, when American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists on the medal podium.
